Recent reviews by pinelarknerd

I would tentatively give this game a thumbs up. In the couple of days since it was released, I have played way too many hours.

First, the many negatives:
- This game has clearly not been fully implemented for PC and keyboard & mouse. The tutorial talks about using the 'left stick' and 'right stick', which makes it even more difficult to understand the controls. The key bindings are at best tricky and at worst terrible: the game uses WASD for moving, arrow keys for moving the camera (the mouse does this too, but very slowly), and XFGHJKLI for menu selections. For some reason, I (i) is used for both favouriting items and switching between macro and micro, which means you end up with a load of favourites, and have to be extra careful not to press J and use them accidentally.
- The menu system is very difficult to navigate. To get to the important Library 'tree', you have to open the menu, then game info, then library, then tree. Then click on it before moving using WASD. From the main menu, to load a freeplay game, you can choose settings from a previous play, but it's difficult to work out what you're deciding on.
- Game saves can't be personalised.
- Graphics settings don't load the next time you load the game (the settings are saved, but you have to re-select them).
- There's no "Close game" so exiting from fullscreen means closing the program from Task Manager.
- Pressing 'esc' on static cut scenes does nothing.
- Some of the animal and flower models need more work. Megatherium just looks like any other bear, and the early avians all might as well be 3D clipart of a duck.
- The tutorial is a chore.
- It's called 'Birthdays the Beginning'...
- The early humans in the game are white, for some reason.

And now the positives:
- The game is addictive. Really addictive. You just want to keep playing to try and get the next creature.
- The game mechanics for 'birthing' and extinction work well. They're really well thought-out, mostly relying on temperature, humidity and elevation, but with other factors (such as co-existing species) thrown in. Amazingly unrealistic, but a great game mechanic! In order to get the next species on a tree, you end up dropping the temperature to balance the pre-existing organism, and the one you want it to evolve into.
- Some of the animal sprites and animations are really brilliant! And the whole landscape is beautiful.

Recommendation to gamers
- Yes, the game is expensive. This sort of game, I would usually play no more than £20 full price (I paid £26.24, full price is currently £34.99). Check out people playing this on YouTube, and if you like the look of it, you'll probably enjoy playing it.
- Don't expect a realistic evolution simulator. Not only is this a game, it's definitely not science. (The idea that evolution was 'aiming for' humans, and that we are the final or best is rather silly. Adaptation and evolution are far more random and unpredictable than this.) But don't let that stop you from playing.
- Don't expect a perfect game.

Recommendations to the developers:
- Go back and completely re-do the controls and tutorial specifically for keyboard and mouse.
- Expand the creatures available. For a game covering the entire history of life on earth, you'd expect it to have a bigger 'Dex' than a handheld Pokémon game.
- Let players have a heat stone AND a cool stone simultaneously. It's a little thing, but so irritating.
- Tone down some of the sound effects. I've got Tetris effect Close Encounters stuck in my head. And that sprint ('increased movement') sound effect is very irritating.

One of the best colony-building games I've every played. Just when you think you've mastered the game, it throws something new at you that sends you back to the neolithic. I guess you should have built up an army of Thrumbos to defend your colony, rather than focussing on trivial things like a steady supply of food for your colonists.